Clairvoyance

About

Recorded when Screaming Trees were still a tight-knit group of teens just finding their voice in the isolated town of Ellensburg, Wash., <i>Clairvoyance</i> is an article of genuine angst. At a time when dozens of bands were aping '60s teenage garage rock, these sequestered sons of loggers were actually living it. “Forever,” “Seeing Is Believing," and “The Turning” make it clear that the group members had turned onto the sounds of The Seeds, The Standells, and The Electric Prunes. But the sense of discontentedness is authentic, and so is the music. Like the bands that preceded them, the Trees had a form of amateurism that elevated their music by making it more unhinged and sensational. The more contemporary influences of The Stooges and The Meat Puppets are evident on “Orange Airplane” and “You Tell Me All These Things,” but the group's ability to conjure the feeling of vintage psychedelic punk is unparalleled. “Standing on the Edge” and “Strange Out Here” prove that at 21, singer Mark Lanegan was shaping up to be a backwoods rejoinder to Jim Morrison, only with more disaffection and danger.

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

Start your shelf to read the full take →